


Purloin and Denial

by solar_celeste



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Tim Drake is Robin, because I HAD to get Alfred in here, seriously where are the other fics from this time period, we dont get enough with these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18353975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar_celeste/pseuds/solar_celeste
Summary: Tim Drake does NOT steal.





	Purloin and Denial

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Iwritewhenever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iwritewhenever/gifts).



> Here's an update as I attempt to conquer writer's block.

Okay…. So when Tim had started acting weird and becoming even more secretive than usual, this is _definitely_ not how Bruce thought their confrontational conversation was going to go. Or that it was all going to thread from stubbing his toe on a poorly hidden encyclopedia.

It was like a scene out of Hansel and Gretel: After he had discovered the first book, haphazardly pushed under the  _couch_  of all places, the next one was only a mere ten feet away. He followed the trail, as pathetic as he felt while in the act, and came to a total of nine books. Nine books.

That was the part that he didn’t understand.They had a whole library with  _thousands_  of books, classics and versions they no longer made, sitting upon shelves that were dusted daily. There was no reason he should be finding thesauruses and books on chemists and forensics, he knew they didn't own, strewn throughout the manor.

The first thing he checked for, and he would forever refuse to admit this out loud, were porn magazines. He flipped through each books pages, looking for hidden booklets or photographs. He had his fingers crossed the whole time, hopping his fourteen year old was still too young, and that his adult like maturity wouldn't allow for something as inappropriate as that.

He was on the last book, thinking nothing was hidden away, when he found it. It was a small square slip of paper, tucked into the back of a book on Avogadro’s number. If not for all his training (and the fact that it fell out, literally into his lap), he would have skimmed it over.

The slip itself wasn’t much, small and yellowing, torn at the edge and all it read was:  **Gotham Public Library**.

Sighing, and realizing his pathetic search was getting him nowhere, Bruce gathered his findings, and set off for the grandfather clock.

 

***

 

He shouldn’t have been surprised when he found Tim holed away in the Bat-cave. After all, the kid had always ben a workaholic and, as Alfred was always telling him, children learn by example. Which was scary to say the least, Bruce wasn’t really a good role model.

“ Tim, come here a moment.” He said, clearing his throat and repositioning the pile of books on his hip. Tim, who was currently Robin from the waist down, looked up from his case work. His eyes widened as they fell to the books in his mentors hands.

Bruce cleared his throat again, in some kind of empty warning as he set the books on a nearby table. Tim snapped back in to attention, nodding, and crossed the room as instructed.

“ Wh- what did you need?” He asks, voice smaller than he would have liked.

“ Care to explain?” Bruce waves to the table with a questioning look.

“ Um, well…. I-“ Tim stumbles, trying to form a good cover story through internal noise of his rapidly beating heart.

“ The  _truth_ , Tim.” Bruce says, pulling a light growl into his voice, Tim sighs, taking in a deep breath as he accepts his fate.

“ Well, there was this case and I needed to do a little digging into the chemistry of the blood work and there wasn’t anything in the library and I never really trusted the internet because people can hack things, so I just thought, why not go to the library? And I was only going to get a few books because I don’t have a library card and I didn’t want to ask you for a signature, since I’m a minor and all. But then I got carried away and I was getting things I didn’t need and I had to sneak by the front desk and I thought you’d be mad so I hid them.” He’s breathing rather heavier at the end of his confession, looking as guilty as a kenneled dog. Bruce can only stare back a moment before collecting himself.

“ You stole…. from a  _library_?” He asks, usual emotion mask completely torn from his face.His obvious confusion and relief almost offends Tim.

“ Borrowed!” Robin exclaimed in self defense. Bruce pinches his nose, insides shaking and threatening to blow.

“ Borrowing  _without_  permission is  _still stealing_!”

 

Tim gulps.

 


End file.
